17. This is all We want to say on the first part
of the first Admonition which deals with the obligation of celebrants to pray
for the pope in the sacrifice of the Mass. Nothing further is to be added
except that even before this Admonition, Catholic Greek Oriental bishops were
careful to decree this very measure in their synods. We Ourselves did not
neglect the publication of such suitable decrees for Italian Greeks. In 1720, a
provincial synod was held at Zamoscia on the order of Pope Clement XI, under
the presidency of Hieronymus Grimaldus. He was then the archbishop of Edessa
and nuncio of the Apostolic See in the kingdom of Poland; later, he was raised
to the honor of the Cardinalate by Pope Clement XII. In the decrees of this
synod, which were confirmed after proper investigation by Pope Benedict XIII,
the following words are found under the heading de fide Catholica:
"For the same reason"-that is, to remove all suspicion of
schism-"and to show a sincere union of the members with their head, it has
decided and commanded under penalties to be applied at the judgment of the
Ordinary that wherever a Roman pontiff is to be commemorated, especially at the
Offertory of the Mass, it should be made in clear and definite words which can
signify none other than the universal Bishop of Rome."
In agreement with this view are the fathers of the Synod of
Lebanon which occurred in 1736 under the presidency of Joseph Simonius
Assemanus, a prelate of the Roman curia and an Apostolic envoy. In the decrees
of this council too, under the heading de Symbolo Fidei, ejusque professione,
no. 12, these words are found: "Let us not neglect to repeat the
commemoration of the most holy Roman pontiff, both in Masses and in the divine
services, before the name of the most reverend lord patriarch, as has hitherto
been our custom." After the strictest investigation, We confirmed this
council with Apostolic authority, as may be seen in Our constitution Singularis
(Bullarium, vol. I, no. 31). Peter Arcudius in his work de Concordia
Ecclesiae Occidentalis et Orientalis, bk. 2, chap. 39, offers an admonition
for Latin bishops with Greeks living in their dioceses to zealously impel them
to commemorate the Roman pontiff in the Mass, to banish the last shade of
suspicion of any inclination to schism: "The Latin bishops should see to
it that the Greek priests subject to them are in Catholic unity and recognize
the Supreme Pastor, and according to the ancient custom solemnly pray for him"
in the sacrifice of the Mass-the subject under discussion in this passage. In
agreement with this most just admonition, the following provision was made in
Our constitution issued for the Italian Greeks, Etsi Pastoralis
(Bullarium, vol. 1, 57, sect. 9, no. 4): "Next a commemoration should be
made of the Supreme Roman Pontiff and of the Local Ordinary in Masses and
divine services."
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